Israel Matzav

De facto building freeze confirmed

Here's the truth: All those announcements that our government has made about building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria are for domestic consumption. The reality is that housing starts in Judea and Samaria dropped by a whopping 62.4% in the first three quarters 2014. And the building in Jerusalem may not have crossed the green line.

Data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday showed that ground was broken on 935 homes in Judea and Samaria from January to September of this year, compared with 2,487 during the same period in 2013.

Settler building makes up only 2.8% of the 32,850 country wide housing starts. But the largest drop in construction occurred in Judea and Samaria, compared to an overall decline of 7.4%, according to the CBS.

Housing starts in Jerusalem, in comparison, grew by 20.6% in the first three quarters of this year, compared with last year. But the CBS does not provide data that shows how much occurred over the pre-1967 lines in Jerusalem.

I'm sure the State Department will be happy.

Labels: Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, settlement freeze, US State Department

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:39 PM